traditional media

Our clients Paul Ehrlich and Sandra Kahn, DDS were recently featured on Radio Health Journal as part of our national PR campaign for their latest work, JAWS: The Story of a Hidden Epidemic (Stanford University Press).

Radio Health Journal is an energetic, entertaining, highly-produced, contemporary radio magazine that’s syndicated to more than 500 stations. Each week, Radio Health Journal features interviews with guests that have expertise and real-world experience regarding current issues in health and medicine. This week, they interviewed Professor Ehrlich and Dr. Kahn about the serious medical consequences of humans’ rapidly shrinking jaws.

Host Reed Pence also included a nice write-up on the show’s website:

3.5 million children get braces every year, and many adults live with obstructive sleep apnea. These two complications, along with several others, are all part of an epidemic that began when hunter-gatherers moved to an agricultural environment and lifestyle. Co-authors of the book Jaws: The Story of a Hidden Epidemic, Dr. Paul Ehrlich, Professor Emeritus of Population Studies at Stanford University, and Dr. Sandra Kahn, orthodontist, identify the cause of these problems to be a shrinking jaw.

About 75% of kids have alignment problems with their teeth by the age of 13, and many adults sleep in a CPAP machine to keep their airways free, because their tongue is too big for their jaws. The root of both of these issues is the fact that the jaw is too small and doesn’t get enough exercise. Over time, our diets have become progressively made up of softer foods, mothers don’t breastfeed for three to four years like they used to, and we wean children to soft foods. All of this adds up to a jaw that hasn’t developed well, leading to wisdom teeth, crooked teeth, and sleep apnea later on. Basically, “we’ve brought hunter-gatherer jaws and teeth into a McDonald’s environment,” Dr. Ehrlich says.

JAWS is a breakthrough book that uncovers a serious, mounting public health crisis: the human jaw is shrinking. Crooked teeth and crowded jaws have increased dramatically in recent decades, and research is now linking this change with an epidemic of sleep apnea, high blood pressure, cancer, diabetes, and diminished cognitive ability.

Jaws reveals why this sudden transformation has happened, how it’s impacting our sleep and therefore our health, along with simple, practical steps that parents can take to ensure their child’s jaw develops in a healthy manner.

The highly anticipated follow-up to the acclaimed Sustainable Urbanism, Farr’s new book tackles humanitarian, population, and climate crises by addressing them as three facets of the same interrelated human existential challenge. In compelling prose and stunning imagery, Sustainable Nation poses one big question: how can we make the world we want in the least possible time?

The answer: Help local communities rapidly accelerate the pace of human progress in order to create more equitable and sustainable neighborhoods. The United States has always been a DIY country, and Sustainable Nation argues that individuals are uniquely equipped to make lasting and significant solutions for their communities, and for the planet at large.

Sustainable Nation‘s toolkit includes over 70 urban design patterns from celebrated industry leaders, each offering a different actionable, future-oriented plan to develop key aspects of a neighborhood. At once an urgent call to action and a guidebook for change, Farr’s book is an essential resource for urban designers, planners, and architects, as well as environmentalists and general readers.

Our firm looks forward to providing a national book publicity campaign for such an excellent title.

We’re always honored when former clients return for more book publicity services. Today I’d like to highlight an excellent upcoming book from one of our most fascinating clients, Paul R. Ehrlich, whom we have had the honor of working with on many science and sustainability titles over the years.

Paul Ehrlich has been a household name since the publication of his 1968 bestseller, The Population Bomb. He is currently a Bing Professor of Population Studies Emeritus and President of the Center for Conservation Biology at Stanford University.

Jaws: The Story of a Hidden Epidemic

Dr. Ehrlich’s latest title, Jaws: The Story of a Hidden Epidemic (April 2018, Stanford University Press) is quite different from anything he’s done before. This time he’s teamed up with esteemed orthodontist Sandra Kahn to write a groundbreaking book about a silent epidemic taking place right under our noses:

“Our jaws are getting smaller and our teeth crooked and crowded, creating not only aesthetic challenges but also difficulties with breathing. Modern orthodontics has persuaded us that braces and oral devices can correct these problems. While teeth can certainly be straightened, what about the underlying causes of this rapid shift in oral evolution and the health risks posed by obstructed airways?”

Sandra Kahn and Paul R. Ehrlich are an excellent team: a pioneering orthodontist and a world-renowned evolutionist, respectively, they present the biological, dietary, and cultural changes that have driven us toward this major health challenge. Jaws: The Story of a Hidden Epidemic proposes simple adjustments that can alleviate this developing crisis, as well as a major alternative to orthodontics that promises more significant long-term relief. Jaws will change your life. Every parent should read this book!

Early testimonials are already pouring in:

“Paul Ehrlich is the world’s best-known and most distinguished ecologist, and one of the best known figures in any field of science. Now, teaming up with Sandra Kahn, he offers us his most personal and practical book to date. You’ll discover the widespread consequences of how you carry out such seemingly mundane, automatic, and repetitive acts as breathing, smiling, and sleeping – and how your ways of doing those things affect peoples’ perceptions of you. Read, enjoy, learn, and prepare to be astonished!”

“Every new parent should chew on this book. Who knew that how we suckle, chew and breathe as an infant can set us off on a course toward serious orthodontic treatment, a life of sleep apnea, cardiovascular problems and sudden death while sleeping? Kahn and Ehrlich clearly and comprehensively describe a hidden epidemic that impairs the health of far too many people, young and old. They explore the causes of the epidemic, and crucially, provide practical advice that helps you prevent the epidemic from affecting your child, or amazingly, how its progress can be reversed in childhood if it has already started. This book should be in every new Mom’s care package when she leaves the hospital.”

“Jaws: The Story of a Hidden Epidemic is a well-researched book providing unique overview and insight in to a health care problem frequently overlooked by child health care professionals. Sleep is likely as important to health and well-being as food, but receives little attention. This book is an important read for all professionals who care for children. It also asks questions for possible future research in the field of pediatric obstructive sleep disordered breathing.”

On August 21, for the first time in forty years, 500 million people across the United States can witness a spectacular total solar eclipse. Known as the All American Eclipse, this extraordinary event is expected to attract visitors from around the world.

Our client, celebrated astronomer and eclipse expert Andrew Fraknoi, is part of the Eclipse Task Force that’s helping government officials prepare for extreme gridlock and necessary porta-potties, water, and food supplies. In addition, he recently helped persuade Google and the Moore Foundation to donate 2 million eclipse glasses to public libraries across the United States.

His latest book, When the Sun Goes Dark, is a fun, beautifully illustrated guide that helps families teach their children about the eclipse, and was recently featured on Space.com. In a fascinating interview, he stressed the importance of training “intermediary educators,” or members of the public who can go on to teach other members of the public, in making scientific knowledge more widespread:

“We’ve spent quite a bit of time over our careers in astronomy education training intermediaries,” Fraknoi said. “We’ve always thought about who exactly it is that does education and how we can get to [them].”

It’s important to reach grandparents and other informal educators because, according to Fraknoi, they have resources available to them, such as time, to learn about the science. “When the Sun Goes Dark” offers examples of ways to explain solar eclipse science, which informal educators can then use themselves to teach family and friends, Fraknoi said.

He goes on to explain that the upcoming eclipse will provide the perfect opportunity to get young astronomers started on a lifetime of learning:

“If you want kids at an early age to be thinking about astronomy, the most accessible object in the night sky is, of course, the moon, [because] it is dramatic.”

Stargazers have a lot to look forward on August 21st. Be sure to check out Fraknoi’s free booklet describing the eclipse in everyday language.

The editors recently published an article for self-published authors featuring tips from 33 book publicists including yours truly.

We see hundreds of indie and self-published books every month here at City Book Review. Some authors are just testing the waters with their book; others take their publishing as a professional commitment. We get so many questions on how they can better prepare their book, sell more copies, or reach more review or publication outlets.

So we asked more than 1,000 professional publicists the most important thing they think every indie author should do when publishing a book. We were blown away with more than 100 responses in 48 hours. So here are a good selection of different ideas – from editing and cover design to marketing plans and launch parties.

Carney & Associates’ small contribution:

Be the expert on your topic

When it comes to print and digital media, be sure to go after non-bookpage coverage and instead of pitching the book, pitch yourself as an expert on your topic. Create compelling pitches tied to current events and position yourself as the expert. Explain why you’re the perfect source for the story, and then mention you’ve also written a book on the subject.”

Are you a self-published author looking for a publicist? Carney & Associates specializes in traditional, digital and social media for authors, experts, products and services. Please contact Kathlene Carney for a free consultation to find out how our publicity services can contribute to your success.